Residents' fury over 'the bunker'

[Mojo]

From BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8189061.stm

Plans for a huge train depot have sparked fury among residents in north London.

Network Rail said the 280m (918ft) long storage and maintenance shed, due to be built near Haringey's New River Village, would create 250 jobs.

But the move faces opposition from residents and the developer of nearby homes - with one councillor describing the building as "the bunker".

Network Rail does not need planning permission as it is a public utility.

Luisa Welch, spokeswoman for the developers of the New River Village, said: "I'm absolutely shocked by these plans.

"If this depot goes ahead, Network Rail will find a whole lot of opposition from a number of residents."

The depot is expected to take 18 months to complete.

It will serve the Thameslink programme, part of Network Rail's £5.5bn scheme to provide trains for the London 2012 Olympics.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Haringey Council Rachel Allison has described the proposed building as "the bunker".

She said: "They have got carte blanche to do this because it is on what they call 'operational land'.

"But I am concerned for the people of New River Village because it will alter their quality of life.

"This is a huge maintenance facility nearly two-storeys high."

Graham Goodwin, of Network Rail, said: "What we intend to bring forward is a major development which will bring a large number of new jobs and a better railway service for locals - not only here but right across the south-east network."

My favourite quote: "this is a huge maintenance facility nearly two-storeys high." No sympathy from me I'm afraid, I have to live opposite a two-storey building too:

 

[yorkie]

How will it "alter their quality of life" other than provide jobs?

 

[asylumxl]

I assume they think trains traveling at a few MPH will create huge amounts of noise.

Lib Dems are professionals at creating utterly idiotic reasons for opposition.

 

[Dennis]

Of course it will alter their quality of life; spanking new trains being properly maintained in a dedicated facility. Who would want that anywhere near them? Imagine the noise those EMU's will make clanking around the yard, not to mention the pollution associated with electric trains.

Might as well save the £5500000000 pounds being spent on the upgrade and build a nice big supermarket or a few hundred more Barrat homes on the site instead, together with a nice busy road for the residents to crawl along during the rush hour.

 

[TDK]

How will it "alter their quality of life" other than provide jobs?

If you look into the history of resident disputes 90% of it is down to money and the thought of things like this affecting the value of their property,they will never admit it though

 

[Dennis]

If you look into the history of resident disputes 90% of it is down to money and the thought of things like this affecting the value of their property,they will never admit it though

Quite true, one sniff of compo....and NIMBYism of course.

OOI, what's on the site at the moment, something aesthetically pleasing?

 

[O L Leigh]

New River Village is right by the ECML just on the other side of Turnpike Lane from FCC's Hornsey depot.

It's a little hard to tell precisely what's what, as the Google Maps view seems to be older than the Google Street view. I suspect that what Google Maps shows as a scrapyard has since been built on. That being so, I'm suspecting that new Nitwit Rail depot is going to be on the former sidings on the far side of the mainline. If my memory serves me correctly it will hardly be blocking any wonderful vista, as it's only Victorian terraces and gas holders on that side of the line anyway.

O L Leigh

 

[Oswyntail]

IMHO "New River Village" and Haringey in the same address says it all. Substitute the name "Grimeways Estate" and you get the feel for how precious it sounds

 

[anthony263]

It seems people are happy with chnanges such as wind farms etc as long as they are not in their back yard.

A few years ago there were plans to build a offshore windfarm near porthcawl and the residents ( Mostly posh Old Age pensioners) went balistic. Most of the reasons why they didnt want it is that it would affect the price of their homes ( Strange however as house prices have plumeted anyway)

There are 2 old road bridges that cross the great western mainline at either side of pyle railway station and when the council planned to demolish them and build a new bridge and road layout the residents complained. It will be fun now to see how network rail can sort them out as the bridges as so low that you wont get overhead wiring under them.

Personally i am not bothered by having a wind famr etc built near me, i wouldnt even mind living near a railway line where trains ran 24 hours a day

 

[LondonLarry]

Sorry, but if you CHOOSE to live by a railway line, you have to expect noise. If you don't like it, move somewhere else!

 

[Aictos]

Sorry, but if you CHOOSE to live by a railway line, you have to expect noise. If you don't like it, move somewhere else!

Yes but my company has to suffer with a NIMBY at Hertford who complained like hell about stabled 313s when we had engineering works on, FCC pointed out that the railway was there for far longer then he had been there and surely he realised that there was going to be noise from a railway line.

And the local council and health/safety people agreed with him that we were preventing him from getting sleep!

So now, we can stable stock at Hertford but we need to be quiet and drop the pans

 

[O L Leigh]

That's fine until the night man comes round in the morning to raise the pans and prep the units. Lots of clattering compressors all at once together with brake valves blowing down, traction motors humming and horns being blown using both tones and both ends.

We had a NIMBY near Cheshunt who snuck onto the railway one night and turned a couple of whistle boards through 90 degrees so that they could be seen by the drivers. As soon as I spotted it I made sure I blew long and loud at that particular crossing.

O L Leigh

 

[asylumxl]

To be honest, being local to the area, Harpenden and St Albans residents usually oppose any kind of development (no offence to members whom I know are from the area), whether it be a supermarket or a depot.

 

[LondonLarry]

Yes but my company has to suffer with a NIMBY at Hertford who complained like hell about stabled 313s when we had engineering works on, FCC pointed out that the railway was there for far longer then he had been there and surely he realised that there was going to be noise from a railway line.

And the local council and health/safety people agreed with him that we were preventing him from getting sleep!

So now, we can stable stock at Hertford but we need to be quiet and drop the pans

I used to live next to the down sidings at Basingstoke and that didn't bother me too much; neither did living next to the DLR. Living very close to Birmingham New Street wasn't much fun with all the screetching from the wheels!

I've only experienced a pantograph being raised on one occasion and it scared the life out of me!

 

[johnb]

I've only experienced a pantograph being raised on one occasion and it scared the life out of me!

Were you strapped to it at the time?

I'm assuming the raising of pantos in depots is a bit more dramatic than its daily occurrence at Farringdon and Camden Road...?

 

[Aictos]

Well the plans are now available on the Thameslink project website for all to see the depot plans for both Three Bridges and Hornsey.

22-07-2009

The new generation of crowd-busting 12-carriage trains are a key element of the Thameslink Programme. Bids to build and maintain the new fleet were submitted by Alstom, Bombardier Transportation and Siemens on 25 June and are being evaluated.

The successful bidder would also need to provide depots for the maintenance of the new fleet and in preparation for this, plans for base schemes at two sites have been published. One is a new depot south of London, near Three Bridges station. The other is close to Hornsey depot in north London.

Local councillors have been briefed and public exhibitions held for nearby residents.

Here is a copy of the information that was shared:

Three Bridges
Hornsey

Three Bridges site layout
Hornsey site layout

Thanks to the Thameslink Project website for the info - visit it now for the latest info on the project.